"When turian and asari historians argue what caused the Empire of the Hand-Citadel War, they forget the true reason. Sure it was a turian fleet who blew up a small ISB shuttle before following them to the point of origin in a backwater planet in the Unknown Regions. Sure it was a turian fleet who bombarded and killed a hundred thousand Imperial citizens because their admiral was a bit too glory hungry and wanted to show that she was ready for a promotion. Guess what? It was the asari who wrote the damn Citadel Conventions anyway."
-Excerpt from Emily Wong's interview with Matriarch Aethyta
"No, I won't comment on that goddamn war. Why? Because fuck you. That's why."
-Retired mercenary Zaeed Massani when asked about the Empire of the Hand-Citadel War
Unknown Regions, Edge of the Empire of the Hand and Imperial Remnant
They came out of warp in a blaze of blue and grey, the colors of the Turian Hierarchy being portrayed proudly. Fifty-three ships accompanied them, a mixture of frigates and cruisers along with two other dreadnoughts. They were in formation, with the pinpoint accuracy that turians were known for. Fighters began to pour out from the hangar bays on the sides of the dreadnought.
The lead ship was Palaven's Sorrow, an older Dal-class dreadnought which was a thousand meters from bow to stern and was one of the largest ships in the turian military.
They were here to announce their presence and capture this planet in the name of the Citadel Council and to impose the law of the Citadel Conventions. A law that these miscreants had broken.
For they were the Iron Fist of the Citadel peacekeepers, ironic name noted. The vanguard that brought Citadel law onto lawless planets and the lawbreakers who inhabited them. May the Spirits forgive those who broke these laws.
The spinal gun was ready.
Admiral Jhrinx was ready as well.
DT-5537 was no stranger to death and danger. He had been on patrol when the opening shots came, destroying much of their prepared defenses in couple of salvos. Luckily he was away, his speeder bike tucked behind a tree while he was lying on his belly. The forest's trees reminded him of Endor despite it being much more civilized.
His DLT-19 heavy blaster rifle was situated on the ground while he was looking through his macrobinoculars. Damn ingrates, he cursed as he scanned the horizon. Whoever these...invaders were they were able to build up an outpost relatively quick. Prefabricated buildings were being dropped by orbit, fortifications bristiling to the teeth with turrets and anti-air weapons, and thousands upon thousands of armored soldiers preparing themselves for war.
He could also see armor in vehicle depots being attended to them by their crews. These aliens were not covered in armor and so he could see their appearances much better. They were avian-like, with mandibles and face plates. Their bodies seemed tubular and metallic, while their legs were skinny. He could only count three fingers on each hand. But they were humanoid.
Fighters screamed overhead while gunships hovered or were landing in their designated spots. This was a base if he ever saw one. He would have radioed for command but command was burnt and destroyed, having been targeted by a lucky shot from the enemy fleet's flagship's spinal gun. It sucked when your fleet was just a bunch of words on paper.
His comlink suddenly flickered to life as someone was trying to reach him. He placed his macrobinoculars on the ground and answered it.
"This is DT-5337. Who is this?" he asked, annoyed that he had been interrupted in his duty to try and collect information. "And what are you doing on this channel?"
"Oh never mind that! Listen. I'm a part of the New Republic. Yes, I know, we're at war, blah, blah. And yes we were on your planet as saboteurs and spies. Never mind that!" a brash female voice huffed with equally returned annoyance. "All I know is that we need to get off this planet because you're outnumbered twenty to one, have no ships, and your entire high command was wiped out by a shot from that damn spinal gun."
DT-5537 refused to ask why they knew that. The New Republic's spies were among the best in the galaxy, much more proficient and able than the idiots in the Imperial Security Bureau. They must have been preparing to attack the command center themselves or at least had some intelligence on them, but with the entire planetary command gone and dead, he had no idea who was in charge. The satellites in orbit which allowed his comlink to go farther than the standard fifty kilometers were gone, blasted by this alien fleet.
"Okay, let's say I trust you," the Imperial Dark Trooper said hesitantly, he had never dealt with a New Republic spy besides shooting them. "Which I don't. But there are over ten thousand stormtroopers and Imperial Army soldiers on this planet. Even though they outnumber us twenty to one, who says we don't have a good chance of holding out?"
The woman on the other side gave what seemed to be a soft chortle and DT-5537 knew he hated and kind of liked that sound at the same time.
"Because those kriffing ships have your airbases, your barracks, everything military targeted in their cross-hairs. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not be in an Imperial base when an orbital bombardment occurs," the rebel spy retorted. "And unlike most Imperial military centers, this planet doesn't have a planetary shield."
Yeah, she had a point. Her voice left nothing to argue and it sounded like she didn't want to prattle along about any of this anymore. But he still had a duty. A duty to his Empire and his duty to the Emperor, even if that man was dead by the hands of this woman's comrades. He may be the only survivor of his unit left but he had a duty.
"I have a duty to my Empire, New Republic spy," he said with conviction as he continued to keep an eye on the enemy base. "You can run. You have no loyalty to this planet nor her inhabitants. But I do. I will fight to the death."
"Oh you nerf-herder!" the spy said in exasperation. "Why did I even reach out to you? Ah forget it. If you get off this planet alive, I'll be in the Unknown Regions. Just ask for Solace."
Just as he was about to argue that they were already in the Unknown Regions his comlink dropped dead and he was left to ponder who in the name of the Emperor this spy was and why she wanted him to leave so badly with her and her team of spies and ingrates. It wasn't as if he was a rebel collaborator. He had been fighting against the Rebel Alliance and the newborn New Republic for years; he had seen the demise of the Emperor at Endor and when the Empire had counterattacked at Jakku. That had been a battle, much bigger than Endor. He had lost friends who had been serving with him for years.
"Is there anyone on this channel? This is Vice Admiral Rae Sloane of the Seventh Fleet," and once again DT-5537 wondered what he had done to deserve this. "We are under attack and request immediate support from any nearby units. I repeat, this Vice Admiral Rae Sloane of the Seventh Fleet."
DT-5537 raised a single hand to his helmet and activated his comlink again, ready to answer. By the grace of the Emperor I better survive this.
"This is DT-5537, coming to assist. What's your location mam?" he answered, grabbing his DLT-19 and slinging it over his back. He dusted his polished black armor as he began to prepare his speeder bike. The forest surrounding the enemy base meant that they wouldn't be able to pursue him despite being in one of the largest valleys on the planet. Dense, numerous, and with few trails and paths, he could easily lose any pursuers.
"In the mining town. I have a few AT-STs and a platoon of stormtroopers. But I am outnumbered," and he heard the sound of blasters, Imperial stormtroopers giving orders to another, and the rumblings of the mechanical beasts that were the AT-STs. "Hurry. We need to get off this planet. I've got a single shuttle waiting, but we need to get there quickly."
All of his apprehension at not wanting to leave quickly dissipated. This was a higher ranking officer giving him orders. And not only that, she was a Grand Admiral. Who was he to disobey her orders? He knew the quickest way to the mining town was through the northern trails. The Commission for the Preservation of the Empire had purged the town weeks ago; sending the miners to detention centers all across the planet while killing anybody who had resisted. He knew the brutality of the Empire but also knew the chaos of the New Republic. Some of these things were necessary for order.
Order was why the Empire existed. Order was what kept this galaxy from devolving into strife and chaos. Though it didn't really matter now, did it? As he slid his body onto the seat of the speeder bike, he activated his comlink once more.
"I'll be there as quickly as I can mam. DT-5537 out."
Rae Sloane ducked behind a house, her stormtrooper escort right behind her. ST-283, the stormtrooper in charge of her escort was firing his E-11 while her aide was being protected by two other stormtroopers who were huddling behind an overturned alien vehicle. The AT-STs were still in the fight, the skinny walkers doing their best to shield them from the enemy vehicles.
The enemy, these...aliens, because Rae did not have a better word for them despite being in a galaxy full of them, were quite good at fighting. Their weapons were slugthrowers, but excellent ones that could pierce through stormtrooper armor with relative ease. The aliens had a curved helmet that extended towards their backs, giving them a bird-like look, while their armor was exquisite in design, unlike the simpler designs of the stormtrooper's white armor.
She had been on this backwater of a planet in an effort to convince the Imperial governor to side with her and her forces and flee with them into the Unknown Regions. Of course, the governor had refused and been adamant on continuing the war against the New Republic despite having no ships and barely any planetary defenses. He was a fool who believed a little too much in the Tarkin Doctrine and an idiot who bought into the Commission to Preserve the Empire's purpose. And now he's roasting like a barbecue and I'm stuck behind enemy lines.
Her ship was on its way now under the command of one of Thrawn's most trusted captains. A Captain Gilad Pellaeon who had been at the Battle of Endor and commanded the Imperial Star Destroyer Chimaera. A man who knew his duty to the Empire.
"Keep up the suppressing fire!" she ordered and the stormtroopers obliged, with one of them setting up an E-Web heavy repeating blaster. The AT-STs were keeping the enemy armor at bay, though not as well they could have been. One of the AT-STs was struck in the leg by a shell from one of the armored vehicles the aliens had brought and started to fail, the legs freezing up as AT-STs were liable to do. She cursed whoever created the damn things and wished for a hover tank instead or an AT-AT. Sith damn the idiot who created these things. Still, they had their purposes and currently that was being cannon fodder.
The AT-ST crashed onto the ground, the head of the lanky machine whirling as if it was in pain. The crew tried to bail out, but they were immediately gunned down by the enterprising enemy. Can something please go right? she begged to the galaxy, to the force, if anything.
"Keep moving towards the edge of town!" she said while ducking under a stray blaster bolt. She wanted to hit whoever did that but she couldn't as a bullet drilled its way straight through ST-283's head and out the other side. She hit the deck. "Take cover! Find that sniper!" She looked around again, seeing her aide take shelter behind a crumbling building.
A scout trooper armed with a E-11s sniper rifle responded to her orders with practiced hands, having been firing on the advancing aliens who were intending on surrounding them. So far, they were being forced to retreat farther and farther into the mining town, towards the edge where civilization met forest. The single dirt road that lead to this small town towards the main city on this planet was strewn with the bodies of her stormtrooper escort and the aliens, though more with the foreign invaders.
The aliens were good, real good, and disciplined as well. They might have been stormtroopers, with their discipline and marksmanship. As much as the galaxy derided stormtroopers, they were quite capable at doing their job despite some high profile failures. The scout trooper who had been following her command was peering through his scope, unhindered by the fact that the aliens were closing in. He put some pressure on the trigger and fired, the weapon kicking back into his shoulder. She didn't know if he hit it but he looked again.
"Sniper down mam!" he reported to her before going back to firing at the main body of aliens that were advancing on them. He was shifting from target to target. He was an experienced soldier, something that was in short supply in the backwaters of the Empire.
An alien armored vehicle, a hover tank of some sorts which made Rae rage with anger and jealously, was beginning to move forward on the dirt road. She only had two AT-STs, a second one being brought down by another surgical shell from that same damn vehicle. Whoever was in that thing was a master at their craft and she once more cursed her mission. I swear if Grand Admiral Thrawn was not in charge, I would have never come here. But Thrawn had ordered her here. She wanted her ship but no, Thrawn had said, that might tip off the New Republic.
Sure as hell tipped someone off. These aliens were new and dangerous. She would have her revenge on them, but first they needed to get off this planet. The E-Web started spitting out bolts, finally being assembled its crew. Several aliens fell, their armor pierced and now smoking. She saw barriers from the aliens flash but not stopping the bolts. Interesting. It was the first time she had actually focused on the infantry weaponry and the fire being exchanged and realized the stormtroopers were holding their own against superior numbers.
"Not one step back!" yelled Sergeant LaRone, his shoulder pauldron signifying his status. "We hold them here! For the Empire and all her citizens!"
The stormtroopers replied with bravado 'For the Empire and her citizens!' and fought with a tenacity not seen in most stormtroopers. She wondered what luck she had that she was able to find some loyal and fearsome stormtroopers and this Sergeant LaRone, who she had been introduced to just an hour ago. Where is that death trooper? Hell, where is that single TIE fighter the governor promised me in his sarcastic acceptance of my orders?
She missed the whine of the TIE fighter and how it still gave her chills despite almost reaching her fifth decade. Turning forty-six this year, she thought ruefully as another alien bit the dust trying to charge towards the stormtroopers, should do something nice for myself if I make it through this mess alive. She saw something approach their flanks however. It was coming closer and closer.
She then realized it was coming out of the forest, moving faster and faster. She saw the shape, smooth and shaped like a speeder bike before she realized it was a speeder bike. And on it was a black armored death trooper on it, heading straight for them. So that's where he was the entire time, she thought with some amusement as the death trooper sailed over them and straight for the enemy.
She knew that death troopers scrambled their verbal communicators so that only other death troopers could understand them. But she and every single stormtrooper, alien, and AT-ST crewman still alive could understand what he was saying when his speeder bike entered the fray.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
AN: Hello it's me with another crossover. This time it's a bonafide time. I've decided to put both Legends and canon figures in it. You'll get more of the status of the galaxy and more on it later. DT-5537 is an actual Star Wars character but I decided to give him some OC personality because he doesn't do much.
Hope you like it.